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Old Warwickians

Mrs Mary Mitchell

Widow of R. N. Mitchell, WS Staff 1938 – 52, with war service from 1940 – 46.

Christopher Mitchell, writes:

Born in Scotland in 1923, Mary worked in a rehabilitation hospital near Shrewsbury in the Second World War. Appointed Senior House Matron at Warwick School after the war, she met Bob who, by then, had returned from war service to take up the post of Second Master which had been held open for him.

Following a spell as headmaster of Teignmouth Grammar School between 1952 and 1961, Bob and his young family returned to the Midlands where he was appointed founder headmaster of the new Kenilworth Grammar School. The new school twice won the BBC series “Television Top of the Form” and sent more than its fair share of pupils to Oxbridge. 

Political changes in 1974, however, convinced him that he should retire rather than see his school dismantled in order to become a comprehensive. His being felled by a stroke a few years afterwards afterwards left Mary a widow at 58, but she shared with Asterix the Gaul the quality of being indomitable, a quality that inspired much respect amongst her two children and five grandchildren.